2017 Poetry Competition

Submission Instructions

Submit three to five poems, each of which does not exceed 50 lines. Email as a word file or in the email body to submissions@classicalpoets.org. Put “Poetry Competition Submission” in the subject line of the email. There is no submission fee or age requirement. Include a brief bio not exceeding 100 words. For the high school prize, only one poem in any theme is required and indicate what high school you are enrolled in to qualify.

The poems must be within the four themes used by the Society, and at least one poem must be in the Issues of Our Age theme:

A. Terrorism. Terrorists and their ideology plague the world like a hate-filled cancer that does not seem to go away. How can the world defeat such an invisible foe?
B. The Environment. Though debate remains over climate change and GMOs, environmental pollution undeniably compromises our water and air. Nature’s beauty and purity plays victim to technology and industrialization.
C. Human Rights in China. In a globalized world, the human rights violations in China are essentially in our own backyard. Particularly heinous is the persecution of the peaceful meditation practice Falun Gong. Poetry in this category may also be submitted here.

(4) Great Culture: Good figures, stories, and other elements from classical (pre-1900) history and literature.

Additional Details

Metered and rhymed poetry is preferred but not required. We usually do not publish love poems, free verse, or overly dark poems that don’t teach a positive lesson. Poems are judged based on both form and character. The poem should ideally be written in 2016, but does not have to be. It is okay if you have submitted it to other contests or posted it on your blog. Feedback on poetry is not provided, but common feedback can be found here.

We note that you will retain ownership of your poetry. By submitting it to the Society for publication or for inclusion in the contest, you give the Society the rights to possibly publish it online on this website, in a Society of Classical Poets journal, or in the Epoch Times newspaper (online and in print), but we would not be able to sell your individual poem on its own or have any further rights over it beyond these forums. You could publish it anywhere else or sell it to any publication as desired. The first step in publishing is to have it published on the Society’s homepage and we will check with you first to confirm if we have your permission to do so. At that time you may indicate that we do or do not. Alternatively, when submitting you may add a note stating “do not publish if not a winner.”

The competition is judged by Evan Mantyk, President of the Society, and other participating executive staff.

You do not have to be a member of the Society to participate.

Any submissions for the Hudson Valley Prize automatically compete for the general prize as well. If you want to qualify for the Hudson Valley prize, please indicate so in your submission and include your address.

Advisory Board members may participate.

Past Winners

Views expressed by individual poets and writers on this website and by commenters do not represent the views of the entire Society. The comments section on regular posts is meant to be a place for civil and fruitful discussion. Pseudonyms are discouraged. The individual poet or writer featured in a post has the ability to remove any or all comments by emailing submissions@ classicalpoets.org with the details and under the subject title “Remove Comment.”

By submitting poems to the contest, does the poet automatically give consent for publication on/in the Society’s website/journal even if the poem does not win? So even though poets retain the rights to a poem, it could still be published on the Classical Poets site at a later date?

I ask because other contests/journals poets may be interested in entering later in the year do not allow any sort of publication of poems entered in their contests.

Thank you for your question, R.H. There is a general consent based on submission, primarily intended for winners. Many submissions are also published, but we check with the poet first to confirm we have permission to do so. Some new guidelines have been posted above as well to address this:

You could publish it anywhere else or sell it to any publication as desired. The first step in publishing is to have it published on the Society’s homepage and we will check with you first to confirm if we have your permission to do so. At that time you may indicate that we do or do not. Alternatively, when submitting you may add a note stating “do not publish if not a winner.”